When you are
sitting in meditation,
watch carefully to know when
your consciousness starts to move.
Consciousness is always moving and flowing.
According to its coming and going, we must
all be aware of it. To know there is
nothing to know is the wisdom
to know everything. This
is the Dharma-gate
of a Bodhisattva.
When you are completely
absorbed in your breathing, there is no self.
What is your breathing? That breathing is not you, nor air.
What is it? It is not self at all. When there is no self,
you have absolute freedom. Because you have
a silly idea of self, you have
a lot of problems.
To Shine One Corner of the World
Dogen Zen-ji says,
“Even though it is midnight, dawn is here.
Even though dawn comes, it is nighttime.” This kind
of statement conveys the understanding transmitted from
Buddha to the Patriarchs, and from the Patriarchs to Dogen,
and to us. Nighttime and daytime are not different.
The same thing is sometimes called nighttime,
sometimes called daytime. Nighttime
and daytime are one thing.
Zazen practice and
everyday activity are one thing.
We call zazen everyday life, and everyday life zazen.
But usually we think, “Now zazen is over, and now we
will go about our everyday activity.” But this is not the
right understanding. They are the same thing. We
have nowhere to escape. So in activity there
should be calmness, and in calmness
there should be activity. So
calmness and activity
are not different.
a brief biography of hakuin ekaku
One part of
“the real aspect of things,”
one part each of “the self and all things”
and “the realization that these are false,” three parts
of “the immediate realization of nirvana”, two parts of
“without desires,” two or three parts of “the non-duality of
activity and quietude,” one and a half parts of sponge-gourd skin
and one part of “the discarding of all delusion”. Steep these
ingredients in the juice of patience for one night, dry in
the shade and then mash. Season with a dash of
prajna-paramita, then shape everything
into a ball the size of a duck’s egg
and set it securely on
your head.
How
amazing it is
that all people have this but
cannot polish it into bright clarity.
In darkness unawakened, they
make foolishness cover
their wisdom.
